Rita and the Cubs

Lake Tahoe is positioned right at the bend on the map where California meets Nevada. Half of the Lake is in one state and the other half in the other state. We people understand the fact that there is a different Governor and many different rules and laws depending on which state we happen to be in, but the bears don’t. In Nevada, the bear biologists work with the bears, tagging them and keeping records on them for as long as they live. If one gets into a bit of trouble he or she is given several chances to change their bad habits rather than simply being trapped and killed as in California.

Recently, BEAR League member Rita McEwing accompanied Nevada Department of Wildlife biologist, Carl Lackey and assisted in capturing and tagging these two eight month old cubs. They were with their mother in a campground near Zephyr Cove. Their mother, #117 is not a problem at all. She happened to catch a whiff of some BBQ in the making and was not able to resist checking it out. According to her tag, she is 17 years old! That’s a pretty good age for a bear living in the wild. Sister Bear weighed in at 48 pounds and her Brother was 60, both very healthy youngsters.

The family was released together away from the campground and given ‘instructions’ not to return. We hope for long happy lives for #117’s beautiful children.